The Ethereum Merge is nearly every week away. The merge shall be one of many largest occasions in crypto’s historical past. As a outcome, it has many ramifications.
One such situation is relating to the censorship issues after the merge. Fortunately for ETH, Coinbase could also be fixing this greatest concern.
The chief authorized officer of Coinbase, Paul Grewal, reveals that Coinbase won’t censor any transactions on Ethereum, even once they embrace the usage of sanctioned companies like Tornado Cash.
Role Of Coinbase After Ethereum Merge
The Ethereum merge adjustments the consensus mechanism of Ethereum from Proof-of-work to Proof-of-stake. As a outcome, Proof-of-stake depends on validators to validate transactions and add them to the blockchain. However, one of many criticisms of this mechanism is that it will possibly result in censorship points.
Coinbase shall be one of many greatest validators after the Ethereum merge. Moreover, Coinbase has a few 15% share in Ethereum-based property. According to JP Morgan analyst Kenneth Worthington, Coinbase shall be one of many greatest beneficiaries of the merge.
However, there are questions on what occurs when Coinbase or any validator should validate transactions that embrace sanctioned companies like Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control for cash laundering actions.
Laura Shin, an esteemed crypto journalist, raised comparable issues on Twitter. However, in response to her tweets, Grewal revealed that the legislation permits Coinbase to not censor any transaction.
Coinbase’s Interpretation Of Law
Grewal defined his interpretation of the law relating to this subject. He believes that nothing within the legislation compels miners or stakers to censor any transaction on the bottom layer after the Ethereum Merge. Grewal believes that the legislation prohibits transacting with sanctioned people and blocking the property held by them.
Moreover, he believes {that a} miner or validator is merely facilitating the recording of the transactions. According to him, the legislation is interpreted based mostly on what it states and never what others need it to say.
Will different validators comply with Coinbase’s authorized interpretation or will they select to adjust to the OFAC?
The introduced content material might embrace the private opinion of the writer and is topic to market situation. Do your market analysis earlier than investing in cryptocurrencies. The writer or the publication doesn’t maintain any accountability to your private monetary loss.